The "Mind Fuck" Structure of Narrative and Donnie Darko

The article analysed is of Jonathan Eig, a teacher of screenwriting and film history in Washington DC; the article appears on "ejumpcut.org"Eig attempts to deconstruct the evolution of what he calls "identity surprises" in modern cinema, using Toto pulling the cover from the Wizard in the "Wizard of Oz" and the unmasking of Norman Bates in "Psycho" as instances of such complexity in narrative. 

Such twists however, are subject to what Eig calls "3 characteristics": First, in these films the character with the surprise invariably is the protagonist, as opposed to a supporting character who affects a more “normal” hero. The next two characteristics work in tandem. The hero in question does not know the true nature of his identity and so is not simply keeping a secret from us. And the audience does not know the backstory either. We are not let in on a secret the hero does not know. A sudden boomlet of movies intentionally lie to the audience and manipulate viewers’ emotional investment in the heroes." This emotional investment of the audience into the protagonist, due to the fact they are both of the same subsequent wavelength, open the door for the "manipulation of audiences", and what critics David Lynch and David Fincher name: "Mind Fucks".

Eig admits that the birth of the "Mind Fuck" narrative derives from Spanish writer and director Luis Bunel,